reza hajialibeigloo

Despite the introduction of e-learning in recent years, it has not been utilized as a major educational method in numerous universities, especially in the area of medical and health sciences, until the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study aimed at explaining the strengths and weaknesses of asynchronous e-learning in nursing education throughout the COVID-19 crisis.

In this qualitative descriptive study, a total of 14 nursing faculty members were selected using the purposive sampling method. The interviews were conducted face-to-face with semi-structured questions. The researcher recorded all interviews with the participants' consent. Data analysis was conducted in four phases using the content analysis approach (Graneheim and Lundman).

Nursing faculty members cited "low quality of educational content", "cold and soulless education", "low efficiency in clinical education", and "insufficiency in educational assessment process" as the weaknesses and "maintenance of safe education during the COVID-19 crisis" as the strength of asynchronous e-learning in nursing education during the COVID-19 crisis.

Asynchronous e-learning was shown to have various weaknesses in nursing theoretical and clinical education. However, the most striking strengths of this method in the COVID-19 pandemic were found to be the protection of the safety and health of individuals, followed by the maintenance of academic activities and education. Therefore, it is worthwhile for all nurse researchers, academic education policy-makers, and faculties to put conscious effort into developing standard protocols for the preparation of educational content, empowering lecturers in the area of online education, and using other methods to promote dynamic interactions.

The global health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has led many institutions and universities around the world to bring about a sudden shift to virtual education to continue their educational activities.

This study aimed to explain the challenges of the sudden shift to asynchronous virtual education in nursing education throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

A qualitative study was conducted during 2020, on nursing faculty members and undergraduate nursing students in the Urmia School of Nursing and Midwifery, Iran. A total of 12 faculty members and 8 students were enrolled in the study using purposive sampling. Data were collected using semi-structured face-to-face interviews and then analyzed through the content analysis method.

Participants identified “inappropriate groundwork” and “low inclination to virtual education” as the main challenges of the sudden shift to asynchronous e-learning in nursing education during the COVID19 pandemic.

The authorities of nursing schools should provide the appropriate groundwork for virtual education by the provision and upgrading of the required hardware and software, teaching how to use the facilities, and developing standard protocols for virtual education.

Aging population growth is accompanied by the risk of cardiovascular diseases and hypertension. Medication nonadherence is one of the problems affecting patients, especially elderly individuals with high blood pressure. The present study aimed to determine the effect of an educational program based on the Health Belief Model (HBM) on medication adherence in older adults suffering from hypertension. This randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on 60-year-old elderly people referring to health centers in Mashhad, Iran, during 2017. To this end, the intervention group received education on medication adherence while the control group was only subjected to typical routine services. The data were analyzed in SPSS Software (Version 20) through the independent t-test, Chi-square test, and Fisher’s exact test. The mean ages of the participants in the intervention and control groups were 69.1±8.3 and 63.9±6.7 years, respectively. The post-test mean score of medication adherence obtained by the intervention group was 6.7±0.5 that was significantly higher than that of the control group (3.7±1.0) (P˂0.001). Moreover, the mean score of medication adherence in the intervention group had significantly increased in the post-test phase (P˂0.001) based on the within-group results of the paired t-test. Implications for Practice: The HBM might improve medication adherence in elderly individuals with hypertension by changing their beliefs. Therefore, it was recommended to use this model for teaching self-care to older adults suffering from chronic illnesses and also in other senior healthcare centers.

Self-efficacy of medication use and pharmaceutical knowledge are important factors for medical treatment completion. This study aimed to determine the effect of self-administration of medication program on pharmaceutical knowledge and satisfaction of patients with cardiovascular diseases. This randomized clinical trial was conducted on 60 patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in Imam Reza hospital in Mashhad during 2018. Self-efficacy was examined using the standard scale of self-efficacy for appropriate medication use. Moreover, pharmaceutical knowledge was examined using the standard scale for the measurement of patients’ knowledge level before and after the intervention. Patients’ satisfaction with the medication use manner was also evaluated at the time of discharge from the hospital. Data were analyzed in SPSS software (Version 20). According to the results, the mean ages of patients in the intervention and control groups were 40.9±8.6 and 44.4±8.5, respectively. In the pre-test, the self-efficacy and pharmaceutical knowledge scores obtained from independent t-tests and Mann-Whitney U test were homogeneous. However, self-efficacy scores in the post-test were 32.0±3.3 and 24.7±3.1 in the intervention and control groups, respectively. The mean satisfaction of patients with medication use manner was significantly higher in the intervention than that in the control group (P<0.001). Implications for Practice: The self-administration of medication program in qualified patients with CVD can improve medication use and pharmaceutical knowledge. Therefore, the application of these programs is suggested improving medication compliance.